Legendary civil rights leader Dorothy Height died Tuesday at the age of 98. In 2003, The Washingtonian recognized Height as one of Washington’s proudest monuments. In 1994, she was named a Washingtonian of the Year.
I first met Dorothy Height in the late 1960s. As president of the National Council of Negro Women, she had forged a partnership with Church Women United and the National Council of Jewish Women to create Women in Community Service. That larger organization sent teams of northern black and white women south for “Wednesdays in Mississippi” to support the Mississippi Freedom Schools and women in poverty.
As a young press officer for the National Council of Jewish Women, I marveled at Dr. Height’s quiet authority. She convinced suburban middle-class women to put principle ahead of personal safety, and she did it without ever raising her voice.
We met again when I interviewed her for The Washingtonian in 1993. She talked about the pressure to change the name of the National Council of Negro Women now that African Americans no longer referred to themselves as “negroes.” “I was born ‘colored’,” Height said. It wasn’t the label but the limitations that went with it that concerned Height. Her goal was, and always would be, to change the game and not the name.
Yet no one was more aptly named than Dorothy Height. Sitting in her wheelchair, she stood taller than anyone in the room.
Remembering Dorothy Height
Legendary civil rights leader Dorothy Height died Tuesday at the age of 98. In 2003, The Washingtonian recognized Height as one of Washington’s proudest monuments. In 1994, she was named a Washingtonian of the Year.
I first met Dorothy Height in the late 1960s. As president of the National Council of Negro Women, she had forged a partnership with Church Women United and the National Council of Jewish Women to create Women in Community Service. That larger organization sent teams of northern black and white women south for “Wednesdays in Mississippi” to support the Mississippi Freedom Schools and women in poverty.
As a young press officer for the National Council of Jewish Women, I marveled at Dr. Height’s quiet authority. She convinced suburban middle-class women to put principle ahead of personal safety, and she did it without ever raising her voice.
We met again when I interviewed her for The Washingtonian in 1993. She talked about the pressure to change the name of the National Council of Negro Women now that African Americans no longer referred to themselves as “negroes.” “I was born ‘colored’,” Height said. It wasn’t the label but the limitations that went with it that concerned Height. Her goal was, and always would be, to change the game and not the name.
Yet no one was more aptly named than Dorothy Height. Sitting in her wheelchair, she stood taller than anyone in the room.
In 2003, The Washingtonian recognized Height as one of Washington’s proudest monuments. In 1994, she was named a Washingtonian of the Year.
Subscribe to Washingtonian
Follow Washingtonian on Twitter
More>> Capital Comment Blog | News & Politics | Party Photos
Most Popular in News & Politics
What It Felt Like for a Virginia Marching Band to Win Metallica’s Contest
What’s IN and OUT in DC Restaurant Trends for 2024
Introducing 8 of DC’s Most Stylish
Best of Washington 2023: Things to Eat, Drink, Do, and Know Right Now
Washingtonian Magazine
May 2024: Great Getaways
View IssueSubscribe
Follow Us on Social
Follow Us on Social
Related
13 Major Concerts and Music Festivals in the DC Area This Spring
Mary Timony on Her Emotional New Album, “Untame the Tiger”
The Beatles in DC: A New Exhibit in Maryland Looks Back on Early Beatlemania
Northern Virginia High School Wins Metallica’s Marching Band Competition
More from News & Politics
These Volunteers Wake Up at Dawn to Collect DC’s Dead—and Injured—Birds
Guest List: 5 People We’d Love to Hang Out With This May
Democrats and Republicans Pass Balls, Not Bills, at Congressional Soccer Game
3 New Memoirs by Prominent Women
Everything You Wanted to Know About Urban Bear Sightings but Were Afraid to Ask, Because Who Wants to Get That Close to a Bear?
Rockville Police Are Searching for Culprits of a $4,500 Pickleball Paddle Heist
Dozens of Vintage Planes Will Fly Over the National Mall This Saturday
PHOTOS: “Rupaul’s Drag Race” Queens Work It at the National Mall